The Ooni of Ile-Ife (Ọọ̀ni of Ilè-Ifẹ̀) is the traditional ruler of Ile-Ife. This Nigerian town is seen as the cradle of the Yoruba people. The Ooni dynasties go back hundreds of years. Because the oral tradition was only recently transcribed, there are several detailed lists that contradict each other. Nevertheless, some key figures are common to all of them. All the Ooni are traced down to Oduduwa, who is seen as the ancestral father of all the Yoruba people. Ooni Oranmiyan, who is said to have lived between 1200 and 1300 A.D, became legendary[1] for his role in creating many new towns. One of his sons, Eweka, became the first Oba of Benin. Another son, Ajaka, became the first Alaafin of Oyo. Another, Osile, of Oke-Ona Egba. Ooni Lajamisan, another descendant of Oranmiyan is often said to have opened the modern Ife history.
The four actual Ruling Houses[2] are named from Ooni Lafogido, Ooni Osinkola, Ooni Ogboru and Ooni Giesi. The first three were sons of Ooni Lajodogun, and the later a maternal grandson of Ogboru. The current Ooni is Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II (born October 17, 1974)

The primary sources for the history of the Yoruba are from oral tradition. Since there were not ceremonial recitations of the list of the Oonis (at burial or at crowning), there are in fact several oral traditions, that have generated an unusual number of different written transcriptions. In what follows, #nn is the index of the Ooni in the A list (see table, column LA).

The filling of the stool of a deceased Ooni of Ife is not a simple local affair as it may seem but has national ramifications. Since Ife is regarded as the cradle of the Yoruba, this town has always been the leading religious center of the Yoruba people. But other roles are also involved.[17] Especially, the Ooni of Ife is often presented as the highest ranked Oba[2] or, even more, as the natural chairman of the Council of Yoruban Chiefs.[18]
The rules to fill a vacant stool are the Chiefs Law Cap 25 Laws of Osun State (modified 2002).[19] And the Declaration made in 1980 by the traditional Chiefs under Section 4(2) of this Chief Law. In 1957, the former Declaration recognised four ruling houses and established the following order of rotation:

The Oshinkola House, Iremo (present) [as of 1957]

The Giesi House, More

The Ogboru House, Ilare

The Lafogido House, Okerewe

In 1977, references to locations in Ife were suppressed. And the January 1980 Declaration confirmed everything just before the death of Adesoji Aderemi.[19] These families are tagged in column desc, as sourced from Vanguard[20] for Lafog, Osink, Ogbor, Giesi. And Newz[21] for the rest. (Both sources don't give their own sources).

In 2015, it was the turn of the Giesi Family, as confirmed by the Ife kingmakers.[22] Nevertheless:

Olakunle Aderemi (leader of Osinkola) said that, despite having produced Adesoji Aderemi (1930-1980), Osinkola house deserved to produce the new King because the family produced the least number of the Ooni among the four ruling houses. Ife Chieftaincy Declaration of 1980 technically throws open the contest for filling the stool of Ooni, he added.[23]

The Lafogido house went to court, describing the Chieftaincy Declaration as unfair. Lafogido house had been constantly marginalized in chieftaincy reviews in Ife since 1957 they said. 14 Oonis have been enthroned from Lajodogun and only 8 from Lafogido ruling house they added.[24]

Adetowo Aderemi (of Osinkola) got even further, faulting the 1957 and 1980 Ife Traditional Council Declarations, describing them as a fraud. That they are against the customary law of succession of the Ife people, he said. He also faulted the inclusion of Giesi Ruling House among eligible royal families to fill the stool of Ooni, saying that Giesi was only invited to complete the term of Ogboru, not being from the male lineage with right to the stool as the grandson of Ogboru.[25]

The Yoruba language is written nowadays with an alphabet that uses many diacritic signs. But this alphabet was not strictly codified before being integrated as one of the components of the modern Pan-Nigerian alphabet (1981). Like for the McCune–Reischauer system for Korean, many authors of the West have used this alphabet with some laziness, omitting many of the diacritics for various reasons, or even ignoring all of them. But, while poor romanizations of Korean can be fixed by comparing with the hangul/hanja original text, this cannot be done with the Yoruba oral sources of the past. The romanizations of the proper nouns became dependent the pronunciation of a specific speaker and the skill of a specific transcriber, leading to large variations in spelling. Some examples are (diacritics removed):

Ojajii

LB

Eluyemi (x86)

Osangangan Obamakin

Osanganga Obamakin

Osanganga Obamakin

Odidimode Rogbeesin

Odidimode Rogbesin

Gboonijio

Gbodo-Nijio

Gbodo-Nijio

Okanlajosin

Okunlajosin

-

Adegbalu

Adegbolu

Adegbolu

Luwoo

Luwo (Female)

Luwo (Female)

Ojelokunbirin

Oje Lokunsinrin

Ojee Lokunsinrin

Larunnka

Larinka

Larinka

Adegunle Adewela

Adegunle Abeweela

Abewela

Degbinsokun

Degbin Kumbusu

Degbinna-okun

Orarigba

Orayigba Ojaja

Orayigbi

Also note that, in the aggregated table, differences that clearly come only from pronunciation have been ignored.

Dele Awoyinfa (one of the list A sources) numbers again Obalufon Alayemore when he comes back after the death of Oranmiyan. And all the list becomes shifted. Since no one else proceeds that way (even not L. A. Adetunji), this has been shifted back (obtaining again what is listed in the LA column). To keep a track, the second reign of Obalufon Alayemore is tagged #4.5 in the LA column.

Usurper Lajuwa/Lajua/Lejua[27] is named but not numbered in the list A, but is taken into account in three other lists. Tagged as # 5.5.

Some sources are naming Osinkola the #47 Ooni, elected for two months in 1910. In any case, the identification is clear, while Osinkola is the Ruling House name. Replaced by Adekola.

In list A, Lajamisan is ranked #11. This can be tracked to the 1973 Daily Sketch kinglist[5] (p158). This is strange since a list from start to Lajamisan should end by Lajamisan. Moving this one just before Otujabiojo #17 would synchronize the ordering of all the kinglists from Oduduwa to Lajamisan. This should be checked in detail.

While list A sources put both Aworokolokin and Ajuimuda Ekun before Lajamisan, most of the list B sources are saying that Aworokolokin, Ajuimuda and Ekun were three descendants of Lajodoogun. We can only underline the discrepancy. Moreover, Ologundu don't quote Aworokolokin at all in his lists. (green in the table).

The same occurs with the only woman that became Ooni. Most of the time, she is quoted as "Luwoo Gbagida" #18 and placed before Lajodogun #19. But also as "Luwo (Female)" and placed after Giesi #24. (green in the table).

Efon Ayioye #6 in Awoyinfa is quite surely the same person as "Ayioye" in Bada and Fasogbon. But they are not ranked the same by the sources relatively to Ajimuda Ekun #7. Perhaps this was the reason of the comment no matter how ripe the okra is, it cannot be older than itself.

9 names aren't part of list A or list B.

"At least, it can be said that the existence of numerous variants requires explanation, and an interpretation can be assessed according to how satisfactorily it accounts for their existence. The method might be described as one of reductio ad non absurdum." [28]

Descendant of Lajodoogun. Ogboruu was deposed after reigning for 70 years. Six princes were appointed successively within a year and all died without completing the coronation. Finally, Ogboruu agreeded to bless Giesi, a son of his daughter Mọropo

20

17

20

22

24

24

Gíẹ̀sí

D_Lajodogun

Maternal grandson of Ogboruu

21

18

24.1

Luwo

D Lafogido

22

19

24.2

Lúmobi

D Lafogido

25

22

16

24.3

Lagunja

D_Lajodogun

26

23

17

24.4

Larunka

D_Lajodogun

27

24

18

20

24.6

Ademilu

D_Lajodogun

25

24.8

Ọ̀sińkọ́lá

25

25

Adéjinlé

Descendant of Owodo #13 and ancestor of Abeweela #42

26

26

Àróganganlàgbo

From Akui.

24

21

21

26.3

Ojee lokun binrin

D_Lajodogun

28

26

26.5

Ọmọgbogbo

D_Lajodogun

30

28

24

26.6

Adejinlẹ

D Lafogido

34

32

25

27

27

Aríbiwọsọ

D Lafogido

Aribiwoso-lode-Akui

From Akui.

28

28

Ṣojuolu Ọ̀gbọnsẹ̀gbọndẹ

From Owodo compound.

23

20

22

29

29

Agbẹ̀dẹ̀gbẹdẹ

D_Lajodogun

Descendant of Giẹsi.

31

29

26

30

30

Ọlọ́jọ́

D Lafogido

Agbele-wojuorun-yanmongi

From Okerewe.

32

30

30.3

Okiti

D Lafogido

33

31

30.6

Lúgbadé

D Lafogido

32

32

Ajífadéseré

33

33

Otuko

34

34

Odidimọdẹ Rogbẹṣin

Ancestor of Mọlodo, Awura and Lami (?,?,?)

29

27

23

35

35

Ajílà Oòrùn

D_Lajodogun

From Moore. Descendant of Agbedegbede #29

35

33

27

31

35.5

Ọ̀sinínladé Òtutùbiọ̀ṣun

D Lafogido

Descendant of Lafogido.

36

36

Abigboọla

36

34

36.4

Àdàgbá

D Lafogido

37

35

28

37

37

Òjìgìdìrí

D_Lajodogun

Lambuwa.

From Akui ward, Ife.

38

36

29

38

1770−1800

Akínmóyèró

D Lafogido

Iriko dunle biojo (the mist cannot wet the ground like rain).

39

37

30

39

1800−1823

Gbániárè

D_Lajodogun

Gbadioro at x86

From Ilare ward, Ife.

40

38

31

40

1823−1835

Gbégbáajé

D_Lajodogun

41

39

32

41

1835−1839

Wúnmọníjẹ̀

D Lafogido

Wunmo-nije-soogun

A descendant of Lafogido.

42

40

33

42

1839−1849

Adégúnlẹ̀ Abewéilá

D Lafogido

Abewe-ila gberengedẹ (spread out like the leaf of the okra plant).

He is said to have died at about 35 years of age.

43

41

34

43

1849−1878

Degbin Kùmbúsù

D Lafogido

The first fall of Ife occurred during his reign in 1849.

44

42

35

44

1878−1880

Ọ̀ráyẹ̀gbà Ọjaja

D_Lajodogun

Ayikiti-ninu-aran (rolls around in velvet fabric).

Imposed by the Ibadan.

45

43

36

45

1880−1894

Dérìn Ọlọ́gbénlá

D Giesi

Ooni-elect, who never came to be crowned at Ife before he died at Okeigbo. During his reign, the second fall of Ife occurred in 1882.

46

44

37

46

1894−1910

Adélékàn Olúbòse I

D Ogboru

Eriogun, Akitikori, Ebitikimopiri

First Ooni to reign in Ile Ife after the end of Ekitiparapo war. The evacuation of Modakeke occurred during his reign.

47

45

38

47

1910−1910

Adékọ́lá

D_Lajodogun

Lawarikan, Agbejanla-bofa.

From Akui. An Ooni-elect for only two months, June–July 1910.

48

46

39

48

1910−1930

Adémilúyì Àjàgún

D Lafogido

He was a descendant of Otutubiosun #31. During his reign the Modákẹ́kẹ́ people returned to Ifẹ̀ in 1921.

death=28/7/2015. Grandson of Adelekan Olubuse. <note> Okunade Sijuade Olubuse II banned the sale of the Adetunji's book in IIfe town because it included a story pertaining to his grandfather Adélẹkàn Olúbùse, which he did not want publicized</note>.

^R. C. C. Law (1973). "The Heritage of Oduduwa: Traditional History and Political Propaganda among the Yoruba". The Journal of African History. Cambridge University Press. 14 (2): 207–222. doi:10.1017/s0021853700012524. JSTOR180445. p.221.